Strange Things, a Race, and a Kiss
by pretzel monster
Summary: What happens on a rainy day.—AU; NejiTen oneshot


**The water keeps running,  
>the earth keeps shaking,<br>and everything will continue to fall slowly  
>a millimeter, every single century.<strong>

It was strange for me to like this sight: the children ran on small puddles and squealed as their guardians ran after them, the few cars passed by calmly, the sun was nowhere to be found with the mocking gray clouds that seemed as hoary and weak as ever governing the troubled sky, and surely, from the corner of my eye, there was a small bead of water forming on the ends of a bright red hibiscus petal.

The rain was coming, and I knew that I would be glaring above all day.

I despised the rain. It made me sick on days when I really need to get going the most, it made me sad, it made me sleepy, and worse it made most things work slower than normal. And I was an outgoing, big blob of energy type of person, so I always wanted things to be quick and rhythmic, regular, or sometimes faster than the beating of my heart when I jogged in the morning.

So I wasn't expecting myself to suddenly take a liking to this slow-paced situation, where everybody was relaxed and seemed to sleep peacefully inside, just because of the rain.

Maybe I just should enjoy.

It would be better.

Fun and comfortable, actually. To notice how people stand out so much with their bright-colored clothing despite the depressing feeling of the clouds as they loomed above us, to look at how everything seemed to be grayscale photographs put together for everybody in the world to see, the vibrant painted objects each seizing our eyes to a world of their own, to _not_ care and finally walk like the dead.

It was beginning to be serenity for me.

I was never the one who liked standing still. Especially under the _rain_.

"I want to die now." I murmured, and the cold wind almost kissed my lips when I left them parted.

I looked ahead. The teasing light breeze managed to caress my skin with its eerie chill, something I wouldn't notice if my bare hands, which were both shoved into the deep pockets of my tan cotton jacket, shivered slightly against my side.

Some guy the rain brought.

I stood still, standing there, not bothering to shift my position. I was, strangely, comfortable with standing, and I would say so that I could last for a few hours, as long as the rain remained a sweet drizzle on my head.

I lowered my gaze. This time, I looked at a reflection on the puddle on the road.

A reflection of, well, _me_.

My chocolate hair and chocolate eyes did not stand out as brightly as the other colors I saw under the rain, but, I considered, they were both such a good color to stare at, something that made you feel warm, like in the country side, in the forest. The moment I dived into the reflection of my own big brown eyes I felt as though my sneakers were removed and my bare feet touched the earth below the shade of rainforest trees. My hair was tied up in my two usual buns, but surprisingly I was able to notice a few short soft strands stick out here and there, but it gave the impression of, to me, a natural and carefree look. And then, the oval face that I never much noticed neither paid that much attention to, was as child-like and innocent as the nearly dead-silent fall of each raindrop.

I was me.

_Like that was new_. But I never noticed those things before.

Those things that screamed my name when people looked at it but they heard absolutely nothing.

Because of the rain, I…

"You don't plan on going anywhere?"

My head snapped to my side, and there I saw a Hyuuga's stoic face, yet with a fair hint of concern, looking at me weirdly with a crooked eyebrow.

"Your problem?" I shot back and ignored the sudden gush of the wind that made me want to smack the rain, if he was ever near, if he was a person down on earth, and I'd beat the crap out of the wind and the clouds, too.

Neji rolled his eyes, but I swore I saw a flash of half of a smirk. "Hmph."

"Yeah, _hmph_ too," I mimicked the way he said it. I was a genius; the reward was the priceless dumbfounded expression on his face.

A car passed by, rather quicker than the previous others, but with the small beads of water perched on its hood and windows, it looked slower.

The rain had no sound. If it was a person, it was more silent than a troubled Hyuuga Neji. Even as I stood there, there was no evident audio of the rain pattering, but I felt it.

Or that was just me. When I imagined things, they seemed to feel so real that I forgot which was exactly the scene that I imagined.

And so I lost grip.

"It's been raining for a while…"

"Oh, you just noticed?"

Neji grunted. "I meant _another _thing, Tenten," He folded his arms and looked at the street before us. We were like an old couple wondering when and where we would die.

Except that we weren't really a couple.

"What _other_ thing did you mean, then?"

Yeah, _right_.

"It shouldn't really be raining this long. It's been three days."

I hadn't noticed. But if I had, I wouldn't take it a big deal. It didn't matter anyways. It still _rained_, in any way you put it.

"Your point?"

He groaned, and I smiled broadly. Almost a grin, but no apparent teeth. His seemingly sightless lavender eyes balanced the background; it was a whole new picture. It was still grayscale, but now the background was blurry, and from the half-meter-wide distance we had between, he seemed to be a perfect macro subject.

And I was the only one that could—_should_—take that picture.

"It's strange."

"That's all?"

"…That's all."

I blinked at him a couple of times until he faced me with an annoyed expression, but his eyes grew wide. I cocked my head and looked at him carefully. He looked confused, but his gaze never left me. His pale lips formed a straight, thin line, and I was beginning to finally be fed up with it.

Neji Hyuuga and his weirdness. Gawd, I couldn't take it.

"What's with _you_, Hyuuga?" I snapped but not loud enough to catch attention. I grit my teeth. That only seemed to make him frown even more. "Hey, if you aren't going to snap out of it, I'll seriously have to smack you for it."

This was what surprised me. His gaze suddenly softened—which, haha, good for him, made me want to hug him—and his lips twitched a smile.

"Felt a little dizzy," He said, putting a hand to his head.

"_Right_," I pointed out sardonically as I punched him on the shoulder, but to his disappointment, he didn't even sway. "What's with the weird looks you had?"

"Weird looks?"

"Don't keep me asking, Neji!"

"Well…" He began, facing the street again. "I noticed something strange."

_A lot of strange things are happening this rainy day, Neji. A lot._

"What?"

"Your hair buns were at a different position," He said, fingers reaching for my head, and lightly touched my earlobe. "It's lower than usual."

"…And what about it?"

"You look less like a boy when it's like that."

…What did he say?

"So," I said, huffing angrily, and turned so that my body faced him. "I look like a boy when it's the other style?"

His eyes gleamed utter trouble, and from what I could see, he was struggling to keep his mouth an indifferent, straight line, but failed (to his enjoyment).

"You…" I felt the tease of a glare, and since this was Neji, I let it out.

He smiled. His smile was honest and genuine, for that time, I heard the soft pattering of the rain again. It didn't rain harder. I was just able to get my weird sense of hearing back.

What of his smile?

"Just kidding," He smiled wider, his eyes above amused, and the soft pattering of the rain only made him look more magnificent.

He lost his smile suddenly, furrowing his fine eyebrows. I continued to watch him do whatever and found myself somehow attracted to every single thing he would do.

"Tenten?"

"Hmph." I mustered a smirk, then a contented smile, drifting off to face the street. "I look less like a boy, huh…"

"You look more like a girl."

I chuckled. "Right."

"No, seriously," His slender white hand touched my head, then down to my cheek, and as soon as he got me to face him again, he touched my forehead, my bangs. "You look prettier."

My cheeks reddened, and I hoped he wasn't as appreciative of colors as me and it would appear to him only as a slight pink tint.

"Quit joking," I said and clutched his wrist, but his gentle hold was yet firm. "…Hey…"

"I'm not joking." He corrected grimly. His hand began to separate from my forehead, brushing a few annoying strands and finally was back in place on his side.

I gave in to a deep chuckle. "Thanks."

We both faced the street again. A scene, maybe a decade or older, played in my mind and found my eyes in the real world. Puddles of the rain, two kids, and a race.

And I remembered. Neji and I used to do that when we were little, sometimes with Lee, although we couldn't always win/play with him around, but either was fun. We waited until there were no cars in sight, and we would make a line from a street, and with a signal that only the three of us knew—of when all our hearts beat three heartbeats as one—we would be dashing, sprinting, sometimes leaping across the street, not minding the awed looks that people gave us. We were crazy, we were kids, and we were having fun…so this little idea, with a few people around, and absolutely, at this time, _no_ vehicles in sight, grew bigger, and I turned to Neji.

Surprisingly, he had the same idea as I did.

"Race?"

"Heck yeah."

He smiled, far and wide; it was almost a grin if not for adorable lips pressed together.

I moved a few steps to my right, and he did the same, now having the distance of one meter from each other.

I leaned forward slightly. My left foot took a step forward and my right poised farther behind it. Neji did the same, and we both closed our eyes.

I felt him connect to me, felt a thread that I'd long since saw, and we tried to calm our beating hearts.

_One_…

To a synchronized beating, to a peaceful rhythm.

_Two…_

"Ready,"

_One…Two, Three!_

And we were both off the street. My speed rivaled his, and in a short ten seconds we were already past our destination.

But we weren't going to stop.

I looked at Neji and saw him grinning as his eyes sparkled under the forlorn background. Then I looked ahead, and the road seemed to lead us to a park. It was a good thirty meters away.

I ran, and focused not on the speed, but on the wind that kissed every part of me, and how the rain seemed to disappear when I moved this fast.

We passed a few people with no worries, every quickening leg in similar movement with the other. A few vendors gave us weird looks; a few kids beamed at us, and I waved at them.

I finally saw the park. It was getting nearer, and my now present grin grew wider, and I let out a happy laugh.

My body curled, and my feet slid. I was going to do it.

Leaping, a few meters wide, I looked at the park like it was a clearing in a tunnel, like a ray of light in the pit of darkness, and there I went, screaming, falling, and soon my pale blue sneakers touched the earthy below and its rain-washed grass.

I immediately turned to welcome Neji with a smile.

"I win!"

But he grinned wider, and from a distance he ran faster.

"…Neji?"

On instinct, I moved a foot backwards, not fully aware—but suspicious—of what the Hyuuga kid would do.

"H-hey, don't—!"

And he pounced, like a proud jaguar, on his delectable prey.

My back hit the ground, though soft, I was slightly crushed by Neji's weight. As soon as a part of his body landed on mine, I opened my eyes gingerly, only to look up at a flushed and panting Neji.

"What…" I began but was cut when he suddenly wrapped his strong arms around me, digging below my back, and rested his wet head on the crook of my neck.

My heart skipped a beat. I suddenly couldn't breathe. _What in the world does Neji think he's doing?_ I couldn't move my arms; they were both trapped in Neji's embrace.

He lifted his head.

_…a perfect photograph…_

It was serene. His few strands that were off his mass of silky hair created a dark but familiar image, framing his delicately white face, pearly eyes, lips pinched by the wind's chill, and a too beautiful face never before seen. I resisted the urge to touch his face, cup his cheek, and bring him down to me.

He did what I wanted with pleasure.

Leaning down, he stopped when he was inches away from my face, and I could feel his shuddering breaths; my breath hitched as I felt his warm, solemn heartbeat against the too lively mine.

He brushed his lips for a second, like he was trying it out, then fully let his mouth collide with mine. I took him in, cocking my head to the side so he could do better—was he not doing his best for you now, Tenten?

I felt fuzzy when his tongue licked my lower lip. I opened my mouth, and he dove right in, his tongue curling and battling against mine. It was only for a few seconds. He proceeded to kiss me, often trailing off to kiss my cheek and my nose, but he would come back and gently kiss me again.

"We aren't dating…right?" I managed a smile, making him smile, too, but his lips against mine.

Neji moved to the side of my head and kissed my ear, murmuring—that made my heart stop all over—in a warm, tender voice, "No. We aren't."

I grinned when I grabbed a few strands of his dark hair, playing with it with my fingers.

"We're practically married."

"Divorced," He said and moved to my neck.

"Then married again."

He chuckled, something I found so devastating and wonderful.

"You win, Tenten. You win."

**The world keeps getting closer,  
>closer to the end that men on thrones fear.<br>But it's just the same with people falling:  
>in a slow, roughly nonexistent pace.<strong>

ENF: And so, a NejiTen for writing practice! Most parts done at one in the morning; my constant working hour, aside from three in the afternoon. And I'm beginning to love semi colons; they are just too fun and elegant to look at. I hope I did well. I only edited this once, and I've been trying to keep that consistently in all of my fics, since I tend to _not get the story published_ if I re-read it too much. I've dealt with searching for a beta, but again, they are just _oneshots_.  
>I take you enjoyed that you were able to reach this unless you 'didn't read; too long'?<br>so I want a review. :3 please? This is the only time I will get to request you like this (summer vacation)  
><strong><em>thanks<em>**_ for **reading**!  
><em>

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters used in this story.  
><em>**this-fanfic © Enf 2k11**


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